electrical nightmare

B

belijerantbug

New Member
Jun 20, 2010
2
alberta canada
Boat Info
185 sport
Engines
4.3 merc
:huh: Ok, so i have a 2008 185 sport with a carberated 4.3 merc....the battery had been worn down while my daughter was listening to the stereo, while cleaning the boat....Anyway i boosted the boat with my truck and all was well...until i turned the ignition off again!....it will not engage power to the starter, the only noise in the engine bay when turning he key is the relay on top of the engine clicks....i have been through every fuse in the boat, also the 50A breaker on top of the engine....i also changed the Zetter relay switch(the one making the clicking) but no go....so using a short wire i crossed the yelow/red wire with the yellow/black going into the zetter switch and it started up, and seems to run fine??(but only with the jump wire)...now i know this isnt right and certainly dont want to leave it, as i am certain there is an under lying problem.....any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Could be your neutral safety switch or the ignition switch. I would pull out the wiring diagram and a multimeter and check those. It looks like you have already ruled out a bad starter or bad relay. I would also check the ground on all the major components. I've never seen it on a boat (i'm a boating noob) but when people jump their cars and just jump it with the cables directly from Batt to Batt on both posts you can burn up grounding wires on anything involved in the starting system or it could just be a coincidence that it happened when the bad needed a jump. Just my 2 cents. Good luck
 
Ok, so to clarify a little further, i have found that one of the small wires to the alternator appeared to have worn through and was grounding against the engine block.....so i patched the wire, but cannot find a fuse, relay or breaker that is bad, the alternator is making power (magnetic at the shaft) but is not kicking in to charge the battery....this is on top of the issue i described above...but believe they are definetly connected....seems like a simple answer that i cannot find????
 
IF your making power but not charging the battery it sounds like a voltage regulator. Not sure where it is on a 185 but I've had that problem on cars before as well.
 
It should be built into the alternator. I would bet the voltage regulator is bad and you need to replace the alt. Pull it out and have it tested
 
belijerantbug said:
Ok, so to clarify a little further, i have found that one of the small wires to the alternator appeared to have worn through and was grounding against the engine block.....so i patched the wire, but cannot find a fuse, relay or breaker that is bad, the alternator is making power (magnetic at the shaft) but is not kicking in to charge the battery....this is on top of the issue i described above...but believe they are definetly connected....seems like a simple answer that i cannot find????
Click to expand...

If you had the wire from the alternator grounding out you could of burned up some diodes in it, also the wire from the Alternator could be a fusible link see if there is any soft spot's on it by pulling on the wire if it stretches it blown. Trace the wire down and replace it with a wire with an in line fuse.
 
If you jump started with the battery connected to the boat then you may have hurt the ECU (computer). Correct way to jump start any battery is to disconnect it from the boat, car, or whatever, connect the jumper cables to the battery then start the source supply. Charge the battery. After charging for a few minutes, remove the jumper cables and reinstall the battery leads. This will keep any voltage spike from going through the ECU. As I posted in an earlier thread, incorrect jump starts have cost our customers thousands of dollars in electronic components.

Hope your fix is simpler and less costly than ECU replacement.
 
OldSkool said:
If you jump started with the battery connected to the boat then you may have hurt the ECU (computer). Correct way to jump start any battery is to disconnect it from the boat, car, or whatever, connect the jumper cables to the battery then start the source supply. Charge the battery. After charging for a few minutes, remove the jumper cables and reinstall the battery leads. This will keep any voltage spike from going through the ECU. As I posted in an earlier thread, incorrect jump starts have cost our customers thousands of dollars in electronic components.

Hope your fix is simpler and less costly than ECU replacement.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately with there being a charging and starting problem the ECU sounds likely.
 
OldSkool said:
If you jump started with the battery connected to the boat then you may have hurt the ECU (computer). Correct way to jump start any battery is to disconnect it from the boat, car, or whatever, connect the jumper cables to the battery then start the source supply. Charge the battery. After charging for a few minutes, remove the jumper cables and reinstall the battery leads. This will keep any voltage spike from going through the ECU. As I posted in an earlier thread, incorrect jump starts have cost our customers thousands of dollars in electronic components.

Hope your fix is simpler and less costly than ECU replacement.
Click to expand...

Never heard that one before. In my experience, this is simply not an issue. What electronic components are these you are referring to?
 
You said the small wires on the alternator, so I'll assume you didn't mean the large charging wire. Check the output with a voltmeter. It should be in the 13.6-14.8 range at something over 1000 RPM's (it will be lower at idle). If it is, then it's charging.

Check the safety switches and ignition switches, that are causing you to need to jumper the solenoids. I think this problem is unrelated.
 
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